


Proving a Point

by Tator



Series: The Ghost and his artist husband [1]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angry Bucky Barnes, Artist!Steve, Established Relationship, Hurt Steve Rogers, M/M, Protective Bucky Barnes, Russian Mafia, mafia!bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 12:19:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6079089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tator/pseuds/Tator
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Please, Steve, please tell me that you did not let three guys who you knew worked for me beat the shit out of you to prove a point. Please.” </p><p>“I’m promised I would never lie to you.” </p><p>or the one where Steve gets beat up by the mob</p>
            </blockquote>





	Proving a Point

“I thought you were supposed to be closing _on time_ for once in order to eat dinner at a normal hour, Steve.” 

Steve sighed and switched the phone to his other ear before flicking off the light switch to the main gallery and heading back to his office in order to grab his things. “I was, and I was actually looking forward to going out and seeing all of you guys for a few drinks like a normal adult, but Pepper Pots came by ten minutes before closing. And you don’t just tell the richest and most powerful woman in the country, no. Especially not when she wanted to get one of your own paintings.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Be an actual successful adult unlike the rest of us.” He heard Sam laugh while he finally tucked the last of his papers into his bag before swinging it over his shoulder and heading for the front doors. “Hey,” Steve defended. “Being a retired pararescue and current head counselor at the VA counts as being a successful adult. You shacked up in everything. That’s very adult of you.” 

“I don’t know if the best man at my wedding _two years ago_ is allowed to call it shacking up,” Sam mused. 

Steve laughed. “As the successful adult, I’m allowed to call it whatever I want. But I got to run, I have my own house to get back to, dog to feed, you know, adult things.” Sam laughed before saying his goodbyes. 

He pocketed his phone before turning back to the door of the gallery, keys already in the lock. God, it had been a long day. The gallery, BK40, didn’t have the most famous artists in New York coming in and out, but it certainly had some good clientele, loyal customers who were very rich and very influential like Ms. Pepper Potts and her occasional boyfriend Tony Stark. But today it seemed like everyone and their mother had heard that BK40 was the biggest hit in the city, and Steve could have sworn that all of NYU’s art students came in all at the same time. Not like they bought anything anyways. 

He was just glad the day was over. It had been a very successful day, but a very long one. 

Steve finished locking the door before turning around to see three guys come up to his storefront. They didn’t particularly look like the art buying type, especially not the somewhat abstract art that was currently being featured in the gallery. But, customers are customers. “I’m sorry, fellas. The gallery is closed. You can always come back in the morning, and I would be more than happy to help you then.” He gave them his business smile, but it quickly went away when the guys continued to stalk forward. 

“We ain’t here to buy none of your art, Mr. Rogers, is it?” The leader of the group seemed to ask. Steve nodded his head and was just about to ask what they wanted when the other man beat him to the chase. “We’re from your friendly neighborhood association, and we noticed that you haven’t been paying your protection payments all too recently. And we’re concerned for you, ya know. We want this area to be safe, but safety ain’t free.” 

Steve chuckled and shook his head. “Ah, you’re the Russians’ boys. Well, I think I can keep this place safe on my own. Thank you for the concern though.” He was getting ready to walk past them when the biggest one on the left pushed him back to where he was standing before. Huh, these must be new guys, he thought. They usually weren’t handsy with him. 

“Now, we know a lot about you Mr. Rogers, and while your service to the country has been impressive, one man certainly can’t fight against all the bad things that happen in this world. We’re really just trying to look out for you, really.” The fake smile the leader gave him made Steve’s stomach turn. Only slightly though because these men must have googled him, but they certainly didn’t seem to know much about him, which he then vocalized. “Seems like you don’t know everything about me, boys, if you showed up to my business like this. Now, I’m going to politely ask you to leave one more time.” They didn’t leave. They laughed actually. 

“What’s with this guy?” One asked to the other. The one who apparently had been carrying a bat the entire time shrugged before looking back to the leader of their trio. “I think we should teach this smart ass a lesson, what do you say boys?” All three of them had a sick smile go across their faces, one Steve had seen before. 

“You don’t want to do this.” Steve warned as the biggest guy approached him. They didn’t listen. 

He evaded the first punch easy enough. Military training did teach him some hand to hand combat, but it has been a few years since he was actually _trained_ in anything. He swiped the man’s legs out from under him and was distracted when there was a hit to the back of his head. Steve was able to turn around fast enough to get hit the one with the bat in the neck before the biggest one grabbed his arms in a very successful pin. Then he felt the head of the bat hit him in his side, and he remembered what broken ribs felt like. 

“Now that that’s over with. We aren’t asking for much Mr. Rogers, just a small donation to the association we work for in order to avoid this mess in the future.” The leader said. Steve spit in his face. It wasn’t the wisest move as he was immediately punched in the face, but he had a reputation to uphold. “I won’t ask again. This will just get uglier the longer you let it go on.” 

“Go fuck yourself.” There was a punch to the other side of his face and then a swing of the bat to his right leg. He had never broken a leg before. He had heard stories of pain that felt like a thousand needles on fire quickly spreading across his body, but he always thought that was a little dramatic. They were fucking right, he mused as he suddenly couldn’t stand on his own two legs anymore. 

“So, give us the money, and this will all be over.” Steve apparently didn’t speak fast enough because he was given a rough undercut to the jaw. “Fine,” he slurred out. “I need call. Phone. I need to call someone on the phone.” God, his head _hurt_. 

The leader provided him with a phone, and Steve quickly tapped out a number. “Romanoff,” the voice on the other end clipped out after two rings. “Nat,” Steve replied. His tongue felt too big for his mouth. 

“Steve? Why are you calling me on this phone? Are you okay? You don’t sound good.” 

“I met some of your employees. They are very good at hand fighting. Combat. Hand-to-hand combat. I think I have a concussion.” The men started to look at each other slightly confused. Steve definitely wasn’t talking about money right now. 

“What do you mean you have a concussion? I swear to god, they did not just try to fight you. Tell me they didn’t.” Steve hummed slightly. “Oh my fucking god. I’m going to kill them. Put them on the phone.” 

Steve pushed the phone in what he thought the leader’s direction was, but he wasn’t too sure as there was blood starting to drip in his eyes. Apparently the punches were accompanied by sharp enough rings to cut. “Want to talk to you.” The leader grabbed the phone from him. 

“Hello?” 

“Mrs. Romanoff?” 

“I-I didn’t know.” 

“I’m sor-“

“Right. We’ll bring him right away.”

Steve chuckled slightly, and immediately grabbed for his ribs. “You fucked up, boys.” He was pushed into a car as his reply. 

The ride was short. Steve couldn’t figure out if it was from lack of traffic or if he passed out somewhere along the way, but anyways, they were pulling up to a very fancy looking office building in the outskirts of Brooklyn before he knew it. He was lead, dragged really, up through the halls to the top floor where he was met with a familiar face. “Nat, always good to see you.” He tried to smile, but his face hurt too much. 

“Steve, I would say the same, but this is about to be a shit show.” She reached out and grabbed his face to check the damage they had done. Steve couldn’t figure out if her hair just looked extra red today, or if he was losing it. Probably losing it, he decided. She tsked before signaling for the men to follow her. “Have you boys met the boss yet?” She asked the men. 

“You mean The Ghost?” They all shook their head. 

“Oh, god. They actually call ‘im that. Fuckin’ stupid.” Steve mused. He earned him an elbow to the ribs from the man who was dragging him on the left. Natasha turned around quickly with the same fierceness in her eyes Steve only saw when she was _seriously_ pissed. “You better fucking quit that if you want to survive through this night. Just because you guys are my boys doesn’t mean I am going to protect you from what’s coming.” She spat quickly before turning around and stalking into the room at the end of the hall. 

They all burst in on what seemed to be a meeting between “The Ghost” on the phone. He immediately turned to see what the commotion was about. “Natasha? What’s going on here?” The man who sat behind a very impressive looking desk said. “Thought you would want to see this. Boys, let him go.” Natasha replied sharply. Steve was then let go from the two men’s hold. He quickly crumpled onto the floor and possibly hit a chair on the way down because his arm didn’t hurt that way before he fell. 

“I didn’t know you got the floors re-carpeted.” Steve mumbled with his face still pressed into the floor. 

“ _Steve_?” The man all but yelled before slamming the phone onto the receiver and circling the desk to pull him up off the floor. Steve was then dropped into a chair. He finally got a good look at the worried face before him. God, he always looked good, Steve thought. It was a goddamn sin. “Babe, you with me?”

Steve nodded. “Hey, Buck.” He smiled slightly. “You’re wearing that tie I got you. Looks good.” 

Bucky ran his hands over the bruises on Steve’s face before quickly turning back to Natasha. “What the fuck happened to him?” He all but growled. Natasha nodded over to the three men next to her. Steve felt bad for them all of a sudden. He’s seen that look on Bucky before and it’s scary. “There a reason my husband was just dropped into my office covered in fresh bruises?”

“Husband?” One of them squeaked. Steve looked over at them and nodded before lifting his hand with a shiny gold ring on it. “W-We didn’t know, sir.” 

“Didn’t know what? That you were beating up someone’s husband? Or that he happened to be the husband of the leader of the Russian mafia?” Bucky stood up quickly before stalking over to them, hand crossed across his chest in hopes to control his anger a bit. It wasn’t working. 

“Both?” 

Bucky rolled his eyes. He gave a swift punch to the stomach to the leader of the organization, and when he doubled over he elbowed him harshly in the back in order to make the man collapse onto the floor. Bucky then grabbed the bat quick enough for the guy to realize before using it to knock his feet from under him and the big guy. He added a punch to each of their ribs, and Steve thought he was just trying to show off at this point. “Now, I know that Natasha teaches everyone the rules, so I’m assuming this happened strictly because of your own stupidity. But, we have very clear guidelines in this organization that I expect everyone on my pay roll to follow, explicitly. The first one being that we don’t beat the shit out of the people who don’t want to pay us. It’s bad business, boys. Not that you lot could understand something completely like business. The second being you don’t fuck with what belongs to the boss. And, fellas, I’m the boss, and the person you just took a bat to, is certainly mine. So I’m going to need a very good reason not to do what you did to him seven-fold. The last guy who decided to even think about touching Steve is at the bottom of the ocean. You think they call me The Ghost because no one can find me? No, boys, it's because when I'm done with you, they won't be able to figure out you ever even existed. You will be so erased, your goddamn mothers won't even remember having you." He kicked at them again, but not as hard this time. 

“Be nice, Bucky. They didn’t know.” Steve muttered, grabbing at his husband’s suit jacket to pull him away from them with the little strength he had. 

“That is not an excuse, Steve.” Natasha spoke up, and Bucky nodded over to her before looking back at Steve. 

“They broke the rule about fighting people, so they watch too many mobs movies. But you wouldn’t be this mad if it was someone else.” Steve pointed out. 

Bucky looked shocked, like he could not believe what was coming out of Steve’s mouth right now. “I’m sorry I’m mad that someone just dropped a very injured husband onto my office. God forbid I be angry.” 

“They didn’t know I was your husband.” 

“And you decided you just didn’t want to let them in on that piece of information?” Bucky’s attention was now completely away from the three terrified men who were trying to crawl closer to the door without him noticing. Steve shook his head which seemed to annoy Bucky more as dropped down in front of him, hand on his face as he looked over his bruises some more. “And why not?” 

“You don’t want them to know.” 

The room suddenly got much quieter and Bucky’s glare got sharper. Natasha muttered something that sounded like “oh my god” before Bucky finally released Steve face, running his hands down his own instead. “Please, Steve, please tell me that you did not let three guys who you _knew_ worked for me beat the shit out of you to prove a point. Please.” 

“I’m promised I would never lie to you.” 

“Oh my fucking god!” Bucky stood up quickly. He ran his hands quickly before trying to get his breathing to calm down. He looked up to Natasha then. “Take these three and re-teach them the rules or something. I’ll deal with them later.” She nodded before nudging at them and they all but ran out of the room. He looked back over at Steve. “So, you decided that instead of talking to me like an adult, you were just going to, what? Hope someone from my organization came to your door?” Bucky walked back around to his desk and pulled out a first aid kit before dropping down in front of Steve again. “I mean, shit, Steve. I thought you left the desire to get your ass beat in the desert.” 

Steve hissed as the cuts on his face were cleaned. “It’s not my fault they happened to come at a convenient time.” 

“You know, I don’t tell a lot of people about you to protect you. I’m not trying to hide you, but I have a lot of enemies who are more than willing to hurt me where I hurt most. And anyone who knows me knows that where I hurt most is you, doll.” Bucky sighed before dropping the now red cloth in his hand into the trashcan. 

“And this is what happens when you don’t put on your books that people shouldn’t go to the gallery.” 

“That is on the books! The gallery doesn’t have to pay the protection fee.” 

“You know what I mean. You don’t put on there why I don’t have to pay.” 

Bucky looked up at Steve again. “So, if I put it on the books that I don’t want people going to the gallery because my husband happens to own it, then if someone comes looking, you’ll actually tell them instead of letting them hit you with a bat?”

“I did fight back, in my defense. And yes, that’s what I’m saying.” Steve said before reaching up and pushing the hair that had fallen into Bucky’s face away from his eyes. “Now that that is settled, I think I need to go to the hospital to get a caste, and you have to go home and let the dog out.” 

Bucky smiled before standing up and pressing a kiss to Steve’s forehead. “I’ll call Sam and ask him to deal with the dog, and take you to the hospital myself. Can’t leave you alone for five minutes, shit. I turn around and you do something stupid like signing up for the army or opening up an art gallery or letting people from the mob beat the shit out of you.”

“Hey, all of those definitely took more than five minutes.”

“You will be the death of me, Steve Rogers-Barnes.”

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr if you are curious](http://bagels-and-seagulls.tumblr.com/)


End file.
